Emily's Worldview

While Kenya has been continuing its political and economic freefall to the north, Tanzania is quietly experiencing a different kind of revolution. Last Thursday, one of my young staff members came to the office with a portable radio blaring. The prime minister had just resigned, a day after having been publicly implicated in a rotten deal for emergency power last year. $170 million had been lost to a briefcase company in the US and people were angry. More resignations followed and the cabinet was dissolved. This came on the heels of another scandal involving similar amounts of money stolen from the Bank of Tanzania. The director of the Bank of Tanzania was fired.

When President Kikwete was chosen as the ruling party's candidate in 2005, many people saw his youth and pronounced drive against corruption as a new start for a party of big men who began their careers in the independence era. Last year, Kikwete started with the party leadership, chasing away some of the most wealthy and well-connected operators. Now he has an opportunity to take more decisive actions against the blatantly corrupt members of parliament, and he has a public and political mandate to do it.

Up until Sunday, people had been riveted by the African Cup of Nations (a soccer tournament that Tanzania failed to qualify for for lack of a single goal), but now people at the barber shop next door to my house are gathered around the television watching late night sessions of parliament. With Kenya in tatters, a visit from the US president, and Kikwete assuming the head of the AU for a year's term, this is a big moment for Tanzania and everyone is excited. Some people, including me, think that Kikwete can strike a blow against corruption and set an example for the continent. Rooting for a better government is more exciting than any soccer cup!